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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

A hybrid-exchange density functional study of the bonding and electronic structure in bulk CuFeS{sub 2}

The geometric, electronic, and magnetic properties of bulk chalcopyrite CuFeS{sub 2} have been investigated using hybrid-exchange density functional theory calculations. The results are compared with available theoretical and experimental data. The theoretical description of the bonding and electronic structure in CuFeS{sub 2} is analyzed in detail and compared to those computed for chalcocite (CuS{sub 2}) and greigite (Fe{sub 3}S{sub 4}). In particular, the behavior of the 3d electrons of Fe{sup 3+} is discussed in terms of the Hubbard-Anderson model in the strongly correlated regime and found to be similarly described in both materials by an on-site Coulomb repulsion (U) of ∼8.9 eV and a transfer integral (t) of ∼0.3 eV.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Electronic Structure of the Cs/n-GaN(0001) Nano-Interface

Electronic structures of the n-GaN(0001) surface and Cs/n-GaN(0001) interface with submonolayer Cs coverages were studied for the first time in situ by the photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) method. The spectra of photoemission from the valence band, surface electron states, and core levels (Ga 3d, Cs 4d, Cs 5p) under synchrotron excitation were measured in a range of photon energies within 50–150 eV. Evolution of the spectrum of surface states near the valence-band maximum was revealed by PES during the adsorption of Cs atoms. A metallic character of the Cs/n-GaN(0001) nano-interface is demonstrated.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

The electronic structure of the antimony chalcogenide series: Prospects for optoelectronic applications

In this study, density functional theory is used to evaluate the electronic structure of the antimony chalcogenide series. Analysis of the electronic density of states and charge density shows that asymmetric density, or ‘lone pairs’, forms on the Sb{sup III} cations in the distorted oxide, sulphide and selenide materials. The asymmetric density progressively weakens down the series, due to the increase in energy of valence p states from O to Te, and is absent for Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}. The fundamental and optical band gaps were calculated and Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3}, Sb{sub 2}S{sub 3} and Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3} have indirect band gaps, while Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} was calculated to have a direct band gap at Γ. The band gaps are also seen to reduce from Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} to Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}. The optical band gap for Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} makes it a candidate as a transparent conducting oxide, while Sb{sub 2}S{sub 3} and Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3} have suitable band gaps for thin film solar cell absorbers. - Graphical abstract: A schematic illustrating the interaction between the Sb{sup III} cations and the chalcogenide anions and the change in their respective energy levels down the series. - Highlights: • The electronic structure of the antimony chalcogenide series is modelled using DFT. • Asymmetric density is present on distorted systems and absent on the symmetric telluride system. • Asymmetric density is formed from the mixing of Sb 5s and anion p states, where the anti-bonding combination is stabilised by the Sb 5p states. • The asymmetric density weakens down the series due to the increase in energy of chalcogenide p states. • The increase in energy of the anion p states reduces the fundamental and optical band gaps.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Unusual pressure-induced electronic structure evolution in organometal halide perovskite predicted from first-principles

Pressure has been demonstrated to be an effective parameter to alter the atomic and electronic structures of materials. By using the first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), we systematically investigated the changes in the atomic and electronic structures of the cubic MAPbI 3 phase under pressures. It is found that the band gap of the compressed cubic MAPbI 3 structure exhibits a remarkable redshift to 1.114/1.380 eV in DFT/HSE-SOC calculation under a mild pressure of 2.772 GPa, and subsequently shows a widening at higher pressures until ~20 GPa. As the pressure further increases, the band gap closes at ~80 GPa. Detailed structural and electronic characteristic analyses indicate that the band gap of the cubic MAPbI 3 structure is determined by two competing effects: the lattice contraction decreases its band gap while the PbI 6 octahedral tilting increases it. Given that, pressure can be a powerful tool to help understanding the optoelectronic properties of perovskite materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Unraveling the 13C NMR Chemical Shifts in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Dependence on Diameter and Electronic Structure

The atomic specificity afforded by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy could enable detailed mechanistic information about single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) functionalization as well as the noncovalent molecular interactions that dictate ground-state charge transfer and separation by electronic structure and diameter. However, to date, the polydispersity present in as-synthesized SWCNT populations has obscured the dependence of the SWCNT {sup 13}C chemical shift on intrinsic parameters such as diameter and electronic structure, meaning that no information is gleaned for specific SWCNTs with unique chiral indices. In this article, we utilize a combination of {sup 13}C labeling and density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) to produce an array of {sup 13}C-labeled SWCNT populations with varying diameter, electronic structure, and chiral angle. We find that the SWCNT isotropic {sup 13}C chemical shift decreases systematically with increasing diameter for semiconducting SWCNTs, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions that have heretofore gone unaddressed. Furthermore, we find that the {sup 13}C chemical shifts for small diameter metallic and semiconducting SWCNTs differ significantly, and that the full-width of the isotropic peak for metallic SWCNTs is much larger than that of semiconducting nanotubes, irrespective of diameter.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Magnetic properties and electronic structures of (YTiO{sub 3}){sub 2}/(BaTiO{sub 3}){sub n} superlattices

The magnetic properties and electronic structures of (YTiO{sub 3}){sub 2}/(BaTiO{sub 3}){sub n} superlattices are investigated using the first-principles calculations. It is revealed that the in-plane compressive strain results in the A-type antiferromagnetic order in the YTiO{sub 3} component. Surprisingly, the Ti ions in BaTiO{sub 3} layers exhibit a weak ferromagnetic order for n = 4. The ferromagnetism in the BaTiO{sub 3} layers near the interface is related to the polar discontinuity of YTiO{sub 3} and ferroelectric polarization of BaTiO{sub 3}. The electronic structures indicate that the n = 4 superlattice shows the two-dimensional electron gas at the interface.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Excited state electronic structure of dimethyl disulfide involved in photodissociation at ∼200 nm

Dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), one of the smallest organic molecules with an S–S bond, serves as a model system for understanding photofragmentation in polypeptides and proteins. Prior studies of DMDS photodissociation excited at ∼266 nm and ∼248 nm have elucidated the mechanisms of S–S and C–S bond cleavage, which involve the lowest excited electronic states S 1 and S 2 . Far less is known about the dissociation mechanisms and electronic structure of relevant excited states of DMDS excited at ∼200 nm. Herein we present calculations of the electronic structure and properties of electronic states S 1 –S 6 accessed when DMDS is excited at ∼200 nm. Our analysis includes a comparison of theoretical and experimental UV spectra, as well as theoretically predicted one-dimensional cuts through the singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces along the S–S and C–S bond dissociation coordinates. Finally, we present calculations of spin–orbit coupling constants at the Franck–Condon geometry to assess the likelihood of ultrafast intersystem crossing. We show that choosing an accurate yet computationally efficient electronic structure method for calculating the S 0 –S 6 potential energy surfaces along relevant dissociation coordinates is challenging due to excited states with doubly excited character and/or mixed Rydberg-valence character. Our findings demonstrate that the extended multi-state complete active space second-order perturbation theory (XMS-CASPT2) balances this computational efficiency and accuracy, as it captures both the Rydberg character of states in the Franck–Condon region and multiconfigurational character toward the bond-dissociation limits. In conclusion, we compare the performance of XMS-CASPT2 to a new variant of equation of motion coupled cluster theory with single, double, and perturbative triple corrections, EOM-CCSD(T)(a)*, finding that EOM-CCSD(T)(a)* significantly improves the treatment of doubly excited states compared to EOM-CCSD, but struggles to quantitatively capture asymptotic energies along bond dissociation coordinates for these states.

Rishi, Varun↗
DOE OSTI2019

Electronic Structure and Phase Stability of Yb-filled CoSb 3 Skutterudite Thermoelectrics from First Principles

Filling the large voids in the crystal structure of the skutterudite CoSb$_3$ with rattler atoms $R$ provides an avenue for both increasing carrier concentration and disrupting lattice heat transport, leading to impressive thermoelectric performance. While the influence of $R$ on the lattice dynamics of skutterudite materials has been well studied, the phase stability of $R$-filled skutterudite materials and the influence of the presence and ordering of $R$ on the electronic structure remain unclear. Here, focusing on the Yb-filled skutterudite Yb$_x$Co$_4$Sb$_{12}$, we employ first-principles methods to compute the phase stability and electronic structure. Yb-filled CoSb$_3$ exhibits (1) a mild tendency for phase separation into Yb-rich and Yb-poor regions and (2) a strong tendency for chemical decomposition into Co--Sb and Yb--Sb binaries (i.e., CoSb$_3$, CoSb$_2$, and YbSb$_2$). We find that, at reasonable synthesis temperatures, configurational entropy stabilizes single-phase solid solutions with limited Yb solubility, in agreement with experiments. Filling CoSb$_3$ with Yb increases the band gap, enhances the carrier effective masses, and generates new low-energy ``emergent'' conduction band minima, which is distinct from the traditional band convergence picture of aligning the energies of existing band extrema. The explicit presence of $R$ is necessary to achieve the emergent conduction band minima, though the rattler ordering does not strongly influence the electronic structure. The emergent conduction bands are spatially localized in the Yb-rich regions, unlike the delocalized electronic states at the Brillouin zone center that form the unfilled skutterudite band edges.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

The electronic structure, crystal fields, and magnetic anisotropy in RECo 5 magnets

The current progress in describing rare-earth-based magnets' electronic structure and magnetic properties is discussed. We use several currently popular electronic structure methods to show the typical values of critical parameters that define the physics of RECo 5 (RE = rare earth atom) materials. The magnetic moments and magnetic anisotropy of 4f atoms are obtained using several approaches, including anisotropic 4f-charge density-constrained DFT and DFT+HI methods. We also suggest the introduction of "penalty" functional for obtaining correct variational total energy in the traditional Hund's rule-constrained DFT-based techniques. The applicability and future extensions are discussed. The proposed combination of methods is potentially suitable for high-throughput computational searches of new rare-earth-containing magnetic materials.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Ab initio calculations of the electronic structure of silicon nanocrystals doped with shallow donors (Li, P)

The results of ab initio calculations of the electronic structure of Si nanocrystals doped with shallow donors (Li, P) are reported. It is shown that phosphorus introduces much more significant distortions into the electronic structure of the nanocrystal than lithium, which is due to the stronger central cell potential of the phosphorus ion. It is found that the Li-induced splitting of the ground state in the conduction band of the nanocrystal into the singlet, doublet, and triplet retains its inverse structure typical for bulk silicon.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Relationship between atomic and electronic structure in Ln-bearing oxides

Metastable states of matter are of great interest as they offer the promise of novel functionality. They are often a natural consequence of exposure to nonequilibrium environments. In oxides, metastability can take the form of new polymorphs, chemical disorder, and even amorphization. While significant attention has been given to the impact those changes have on the atomic properties of the material, the corresponding changes in the electronic structure have received less attention. Here, using density functional theory, we consider how the electronic structure varies with potential metastable structures in two classes of lanthanide-bearing oxides—pyrochlores and interlanthanide sesquioxides. We find that the changes depend strongly on both the crystal structure and crystal chemistry of the compound with, for example, disordering and amorphization either increasing or decreasing the bandgap depending on the chemistry. For the 𝐴 2 ⁢𝐵 2 ⁢O 7 pyrochlores, we find different dependencies of the bandgap on the 𝐴 = 𝐿⁢𝑛 cations as the 𝐵 cation is changed, which we relate to the nature of the density of states at the conduction band minimum for different 𝐵 chemistries. Our calculations are validated by electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements for two pyrochlore compounds in which amorphization does reduce the bandgap, consistent with our calculations on these two compounds. In conclusion, our results highlight the relationship between atomic and electronic structure and how radiation can be used to modify and potentially control the electronic properties of oxides.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

A parallel orbital-updating based plane-wave basis method for electronic structure calculations

Highlights: • Propose three parallel orbital-updating based plane-wave basis methods for electronic structure calculations. • These new methods can avoid the generating of large scale eigenvalue problems and then reduce the computational cost. • These new methods allow for two-level parallelization which is particularly interesting for large scale parallelization. • Numerical experiments show that these new methods are reliable and efficient for large scale calculations on modern supercomputers. - Abstract: Motivated by the recently proposed parallel orbital-updating approach in real space method , we propose a parallel orbital-updating based plane-wave basis method for electronic structure calculations, for solving the corresponding eigenvalue problems. In addition, we propose two new modified parallel orbital-updating methods. Compared to the traditional plane-wave methods, our methods allow for two-level parallelization, which is particularly interesting for large scale parallelization. Numerical experiments show that these new methods are more reliable and efficient for large scale calculations on modern supercomputers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Multisliced gausslet basis sets for electronic structure

We introduce highly local basis sets for electronic structure which are very efficient for correlation calculations near the complete basis set limit. Our approach is based on gausslets, recently introduced waveletlike smooth orthogonal functions. We adapt the gausslets to particular systems using one-dimensional (1D) coordinate transformations, putting more basis functions near the nuclei, while maintaining orthogonality. Furthermore, three-dimensional basis functions are composed out of products of the 1D functions in an efficient way called multislicing. We demonstrate these bases with both Hartree-Fock and density matrix renormalization group calculations on hydrogen chain systems. With both methods, we can go to higher accuracy in the complete basis set limit than is practical for conventional Gaussian basis sets, with errors near 0.1 mH per atom.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of orthorhombic SrLiAs

The electronic structure and the transport properties of orthorhombic SrLiAs were investigated using first-principles calculations and the semiclassical Boltzmann theory. It is found that the electrical conductivity along the y-direction is higher than those along other two directions, which is most likely originated from the covalent ladder-like structure formed by the Li and As atoms. Moreover, the transport properties of n-type SrLiAs are better than those of p-type one, due to the large band dispersion along the y-direction near the Fermi level. Further, the value of power factor with respect to relaxation time achieves 9.2 × 10{sup 11} W K{sup −2} m{sup −1} s{sup −1} for n-type SrLiAs along the y-direction at 1000 K with an optimal carrier concentration of 6.5 × 10{sup 20 }cm{sup −3}. The obtained minimum lattice thermal conductivity is comparable to those of other Zintl phase compounds.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

A direct measurement of the electronic structure of Si nanocrystals and its effect on optoelectronic properties

Since reports that silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) can exhibit direct transition emission, the silicon laser field is at a juncture where the importance of this discovery needs to be evaluated. Most theoretical models predicted a monotonic increase in the bandgap and experimental information currently available on the electronic structure at the Γ valley of these promising materials is circumstantial as it is obtained from emission measurements where competing non-radiative relaxation and recombination processes only provide an incomplete picture of the electronic structure of Si-NCs. Optical absorption, the most immediate probe of the electronic structure beyond the band-edges, showing the evolution of the Γ valley states with nanocrystal size has not been measured. Here, we show such measurements, performed with high dynamic range, allowing us to observe directly the effect of crystal size on the Γ valley splitting far above the band-edges. We show that the splitting is 100 s of meV more pronounced than predicted by pseudo potential calculations and Luttinger-Kohn model. We also show that ultrafast red-shifting emission can be observed in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition prepared Si-NCs.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

GPAW: An open Python package for electronic structure calculations

We review the GPAW open-source Python package for electronic structure calculations. GPAW is based on the projector-augmented wave method and can solve the self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) equations using three different wave-function representations, namely real-space grids, plane waves, and numerical atomic orbitals. The three representations are complementary and mutually independent and can be connected by transformations via the real-space grid. This multi-basis feature renders GPAW highly versatile and unique among similar codes. By virtue of its modular structure, the GPAW code constitutes an ideal platform for the implementation of new features and methodologies. Moreover, it is well integrated with the Atomic Simulation Environment (ASE), providing a flexible and dynamic user interface. In addition to ground-state DFT calculations, GPAW supports many-body GW band structures, optical excitations from the Bethe–Salpeter Equation, variational calculations of excited states in molecules and solids via direct optimization, and real-time propagation of the Kohn–Sham equations within time-dependent DFT. A range of more advanced methods to describe magnetic excitations and non-collinear magnetism in solids are also now available. In addition, GPAW can calculate non-linear optical tensors of solids, charged crystal point defects, and much more. Recently, support for graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration has been achieved with minor modifications to the GPAW code thanks to the CuPy library. We end the review with an outlook, describing some future plans for GPAW.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

First principles study of the structural, electronic, and transport properties of triarylamine-based nanowires

We investigate with state of the art density functional theory the structural, electronic, and transport properties of a class of recently synthesized nanostructures based on triarylamine derivatives. First, we consider the single molecule precursors in the gas phase and calculate their static properties, namely (i) the geometrical structure of the neutral and cationic ions, (ii) the electronic structure of the frontier molecular orbitals, and (iii) the ionization potential, hole extraction potential, and internal reorganization energy. This initial study does not evidence any direct correlation between the properties of the individual molecules and their tendency to self-assembly. Subsequently, we investigate the charge transport characteristics of the triarylamine derivatives nanowires, by using Marcus theory. For one derivative we further construct an effective Hamiltonian including intermolecular vibrations and evaluate the mobility from the Kubo formula implemented with Monte Carlo sampling. These two methods, valid respectively in the sequential hopping and polaronic band limit, give us values for the room-temperature mobility in the range 0.1–12 cm{sup 2}/Vs. Such estimate confirms the superior transport properties of triarylamine-based nanowires, and make them an attracting materials platform for organic electronics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗